Tax Justice petition presented to Parliament

Photo: http://www.nogstonfood.org/

from NZ Herald

Inclement weather today did not stop tax campaigners from presenting to Parliament a 40,000-signature petition calling for GST to be removed from food and a tax placed on financial speculation.

Tax Justice coordinator Vaughan Gunson had intended to join campaigners from as far afield as Whangarei and Dunedin to hand over the petition on the steps of Parliament to Labour's Mangere MP Su'a William Sio, who would then present it to the House.

But he was unable to fly into Wellington and the petition was instead handed over by Wellington campaign organiser Grant Brookes.

Union representatives, Green Party co-leader Russel Norman, Mana Party leader Hone Harawira, and Maori Party MPs Rahui Katene and Te Ururoa Flavell also attended the handover.

"It was great to see them willing to receive our message and to present it to their colleagues in Parliament, and we certainly conveyed our views fairly and strongly,'' Mr Brookes said.

He said polls showed most people wanted GST off food, while he thought people were of the feeling that the wealthiest New Zealanders did pay their fair share of tax.

Mr Brookes was hopeful a broader Tax Justice coalition could emerge, which he said was achievable given the breadth of organisations present today.

Mr Harawira said any move to bridge the wealth divide and reduce inequality was worthy of support.

"GST is a tax that targets the poor because they don't have much money to spend, and nearly everything that they spend gets hit by GST,'' he said.

"On the other hand, financial speculators deal in millions of dollars every day on the world's financial markets, and don't pay anything.''

Labour Party leader Phil Goff this morning said his party supported removing GST from fresh fruit and vegetables, but had not budgeted for changes beyond that.

"We have a fiscal situation that would limit the amount of work that we would be able to do in that area.''

- NZPA

NZ Medical Journal calls for cheaper food

by David

In its latest editorial, the NZ Medical Journal has called for GST off healthy food and higher benefits, according to the Herald.

The good thing about this statement is that these doctors are looking at the wider social factors contributing to poor health among their patients, namely poverty and poor diet.

This leads them to call for political changes like taking tax off “healthy” food and increasing benefits (a brave stand to take in the face of the current government’s beneficiary bashing). The catch is, they also say the retirement age should be raised to pay for this.

But why should senior citizens pay this price? It’s not the cost of pensions or the pensioners themselves who have have forced up the price of food, increased unemployment, held down wages or cut benefits.

(Although I can’t help noting that Don Brash and Roger Douglas still want to call the economic shots, despite being well past the age of retirement.)

Unfortunately these good doctors seem to be buying into the cut-back mentality that insists there just isn’t enough to go around.

This simply isn’t true. There’s plenty of wealth in our society, much of it created by pensioners and those nearing retirement, throughout there working lives. The fundamental problem, underlying the affordability of food and unhealthy poverty is that this abundant wealth is concentrated in the hand of a few.

A fairer way to fund taking GST off food and increasing benefits, would be to reverse the recent cuts to corporate and top bracket incomes and tax financial speculation.

Latest UNITY leaflet - GST OFF FOOD We can win it!

To download a copy of the latest UNITY leaflet click here. If you would like copies of the leaflet to distribute contact socialist-worker@pl.net


GST OFF FOOD
We can win it!

Taxing food is wrong. Full stop. The call to remove GST from food is popular. Politicians are being forced to listen.

GST, a horrible tax that impacts most on grassroots people, was under no threat until, in 2008, a broad campaign with leadership from broad-minded socialists connected with people’s concern at rising food costs.

Today, GST no longer has the aura of sanctity that both Labour and National tried so long to maintain. A pillar of the economic model that’s created NZ’s terrible income inequality has been destabilised. That’s an achievement.

Socialist Worker, an initiator of the current Tax Justice campaign, believes socialists and other “advocates of change” should unite around popular campaigns that raise alternatives to today’s “dog-eat-dog” economy.

We also think it’s time for a broad socialist network to be established in NZ. Such a network could support a range of good campaigns and work towards launching united campaigns that are strategically designed to achieve a broader coming together of activists and grassroots people. If you agree with this vision, contact us now. Email socialist-worker@pl.net

History of GST off food

• In mid-2008, RAM - Residents Action Movement launches its GST off food petition in response to a dramatic spike in food prices. Close to 30,000 people sign in a few months.
• The Maori Party supports the campaign, the only party in parliament to do so.
• Prior to the 2008 General Election the GST off food petition is presented to parliament.
• Rahui Katene, a Maori Party MP, drafts a private members bill to remove GST off healthy food.
• Parliament votes on the “GST off healthy food” bill in early 2010. The Greens and Labour back it, but the bill is voted down by John Key’s National government.
• Polls continue to show majority support for GST off food.
• In May 2010, Socialist Worker (whose members were drivers of RAM’s GST off food campaign in 2008) get together with the Alliance Party to launch the Tax Justice campaign.
• The Tax Justice petition to remove GST from food and tax financial speculation proves very popular (see over page).
• The National government increases GST to 15%.
• The Labour Party concedes to grassroots sentiment and announces a policy to take GST off fresh fruit and vegetables.
• 10,000 people sign the Tax Justice petition in a couple days in protest at GST going up on 1st October 2010.    

Video: Tax Justice talk at Alliance conference

Socialist Worker’s Vaughan Gunson spoke to the Alliance Party conference about the Tax Justice Campaign, which is jointly sponsored by Socialist Worker and the Alliance.

This video is part one of four, to watch the rest go to Socialist Worker’s YouTube page: http://www.youtube.com/user/SocialistWorkerNZ

Report on Tax Justice '10,000'

by Vaughan Gunson
Tax Justice campaign coordinator

18 October 2010

To protest GST going up to 15% on 1st October the Tax Justice campaign organised a nationwide push for signatures to the petition calling on parliament to remove GST from food and tax financial speculation.

As well as getting more signatures for the petition – at a time when resentment towards GST was going to be high – the aim was to expand the network of active campaign supporters and get national media coverage.

20,000 signatures collected to date

After our efforts Friday-Sunday (1-3 October) following the GST hike we’ve collected 20,000 signatures for the petition. That puts the Tax Justice campaign in the serious category.

The bulk of signatures were collected over the three days at organised petition stalls in Northland, Auckland, Hamilton, Rotorua, Tauranga, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin, with many more contributions coming in from individuals in other centres (still being reported). See the photo essays on www.nogstonfood.org

Getting close to an additional 10,000 signatures in a short space of time was a good effort by Alliance Party and Socialist Worker members, with the help of a small number of Tax Justice supporters.

The evidence on the streets was that the GST hike had created simmering resentment. A common sentiment expressed was that National’s tax cuts were “rubbish”. Many people were aware of the unfair nature of the income tax cuts, which have seen big tax cuts for the rich and virtually nothing for low and middle income earners once the GST increase is factored in.

For instance, someone earning $15 an hour will be $4.13 better off from the tax changes, while someone earning four times as much – $106,080 annually – will have $43.08 more in their pay packet. Your average CEO earning $265,200 will be richer by a whopping $153.92 a week (Source: Bill Rosenberg, Council of Trade Unions economist and policy director).

The tax changes have also come at a time of rising living costs and stagnant wages. This makes the GST hike particularly painful for people struggling to make ends meet. Inflation is resulting in declining real wages for workers and beneficiaries. (See Council of Trade Unions media release Real incomes falling, 7 October.)

It was the simmering resentment at the unfairness of National’s tax changes, combined with an outlet in the form of the Tax Justice petition, that saw people flocking to petition tables. Large numbers of signatures were often collected in a short space of time. The evidence is clear: the demands of the Tax Justice petition are connecting with grassroots people.

The factors behind the popularity of the Tax Justice petition are going to intensify in the months ahead. New Zealand Institute of Economic Research chief economist Shamubeel Eaqub predicts food price inflation in New Zealand to hit 10 per cent by the end of the year, which will wipe out National’s meager tax cuts for low and middle income earners. (See Rising prices to offset October tax cuts, 1 September.)

Grassroots people are going to be affected by this in a big way. The cost of food is already an issue that people feel very strongly about. The anger is going to intensify in the months ahead and into 2011. We need to be there with the solution that our twin Tax Justice demands provide.

Tax Justice in the media

As expected there was significant media attention focused on the 1st October tax changes and GST increase. A string of Tax Justice media releases tied to the promotion of the Double Day of nationwide signature collecting saw the campaign get some national media coverage. This included:

* Interview with Tax Justice media spokesperson Victor Billot on TVNZ Breakfast on 28 September (See http://tvnz.co.nz/breakfast-news/breakfast-tuesday-september-28-3804261/video?vid=3804333)

* Interview with Tax Justice campaign coordinator Vaughan Gunson that featured in a Newstalk ZB story on GST, which was played on radio stations throughout the country.

* NZPA article (30 September) which was widely published in newspaper and online news sites. (See http://www.nogstonfood.org/2010/09/29/petition-to-take-gst-off-food/)

* Two stories on the TV3 website: GST activists welcome Labour’s change of heart (27 September) and Govt accused of hypocrisy over GST exemptions (29 September).

* An interview with Vaughan Gunson for Radio NZ that was part of their coverage of the GST increase.

* Plus a number of short and longer articles in local community papers throughout the country.

These media breakthroughs were encouraging, but we’ll need significantly more coverage to really break the campaign into national consciousness. We must continue to explore options for getting the media’s attention, but there are no short cuts. The main thing we have to do is get heaps more signatures, so that the media will be forced to take notice.

Expanding the Tax Justice network

Any campaign which aims at achieving tangible success must seek to broaden the network of active supporters, as well as forming alliances with other organisations in pursuit of the goal. “Tax Justice 10,000” helped this process along.

In the course of promoting the Double Day of signature collecting we encountered more individuals who wanted to help. A few dozen people contacted us by email offering their support for the campaign or to enquire about the petition. New volunteers helped collect signatures in Kerikeri, Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch.

In the days either side of 1st October there was a sharp increase in activity on the No GST on Food Facebook page. In the space of a week the number of people who “like” the page almost doubled to 5,000. (As a result of all the activity on the Facebook page there was a big increase in hits to our website, which peaked on 30 September with 310 views.)

Through the Facebook page dozens more people have volunteered to help collect signatures. We’re starting to receive completed signature sheets, boosting our signature total higher every day.

But if we’re going to chalk up some really good numbers for the Tax Justice petition for the rest of this year and into 2011, then we must continue to encourage more volunteers to get actively involved. And crucially, we need other organisations to join the campaign.

Leading up to and including the Double Day of signature collecting there were discussions about the Tax Justice campaign with individuals representing different political organisations.

A Green Party activist and council candidate helped collect signatures in Whangarei, and there were discussions with other Whangarei-based Green Party members about broadening the campaign. In Lower Hutt, a member of VAN (Valley Action Network) organised a petition stall at a local market. Members of the International Socialist Organisation (ISO) in Dunedin helped collect signatures for the petition.

In Auckland, the Tax Justice campaign was invited by Labour Party MP for Mangere Su’a William Sio to attend a Labour Party organised event at the Mangere Mall. The petition proved very popular with grassroot Labour members and was circulated by local organisers of the Labour Party. At the event was Labour leader Phil Goff and Labour list MP Ashraf Choudhary. They both came over to the Tax Justice table and discussed the campaign with our team. Though Labour’s new policy is GST off fresh fruit and vegetables only, the two politicians expressed solidarity with our campaign and happily posed for a photo (see photo essay).

Labour MP to present Tax Justice petition to parliament

In conversations with our team in Mangere, Su’a William Sio offered to present the Tax Justice petition to parliament. We have accepted the offer from Su’a and will liaise with him to present the petition to parliament sometime in 2011.

Having a South Auckland Labour MP present the petition to parliament will give it real weight, and will potentially open doors with other organisations to come in behind the campaign.

The broadening out of people and organisations interested in supporting the campaign through active participation or through expressions of solidarity is very encouraging. In the first instance it reflects the popularity of the campaign – especially the demand to remove GST from food – amongst grassroots people. Nothing would be possible without this reality.

Broad cooperation to achieve our goal

It’s only through broad cooperation and alliances between different organisations and groups that we can hope to affect a major change to neo-liberal tax policy, which is what removing GST off food and the introduction of Financial Transaction Tax would undoubtedly represent.

Broad cooperation around the Tax Justice campaign is achievable. In the coming weeks we will contact some big organisations about supporting the Tax Justice campaign. Our focus in the first instance will be on getting support from Grey Power, trade unions and churches.

The twin demands of the Tax Justice petition have the potential to attract grassroots and institutional support in a big way. The challenge now is to keep the campaign moving forward by expanding our network of active Tax Justice campaigners and collecting more and more signatures, so that by the sheer weight of numbers we break into national consciousness.

In the weeks and months ahead the Tax Justice team will be announcing new initiatives to propel the campaign forward. If you’re already an active supporter of the campaign, a big thank you for your efforts so far. If you want to get active in the campaign then contact us straight away.

If you haven’t already done so please distribute the petition around your networks and print off copies for friends, family and workmates to sign. And send them back to us as soon as possible.

The Tax Justice campaigners will be working hard for the remainder of 2010 and into 2011. Help us make Tax Justice a big issue next year.

Thank you.

Vaughan Gunson
Tax Justice campaign coordinator
021-0415 082
vgunson@xtra.co.nz

New Zealanders flock to sign Tax Justice petition

Like the new Tax Justice cartoon (see below) people were queuing up to sign the petition at the Otara Markets in Auckland on Saturday 2 October. 565 signatures were collected in a few hours.

Tax Justice media release
3 October 2010

10,000 signatures for a petition calling on parliament to remove GST from food and tax financial speculation have been collected since GST went up to 15% on Friday.

“Tax Justice 10,000 was a big success,” says Vaughan Gunson, coordinator of the campaign.

From Friday to Sunday, petition stalls were organised in Kerikeri, Whangarei, Auckland, Hamilton, Rotorua, Tauranga, Wellington, Christchurch, Oamaru and Dunedin. Plus volunteers in these and other centres collected signatures from friends, family and workmates.

To view a photo essay of “Tax Justice 10,000” go to http://www.nogstonfood.org/2010/10/03/photo-essay-of-tax-justice-10000/

“A comment we kept hearing from people was that National’s tax cuts were rubbish,” says Gunson. “The people flocking to sign our petition weren’t buying the government’s claim that they were going to be better off.” (A view confirmed by an opinion poll commissioned this week by Herald on Sunday, see http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10677867.)

“People are angry at the rising cost of living, which the GST increase is only making worse,” says Gunson. “The pain people are feeling at the supermarket is only going to get worse over the coming months, when food price inflation from the speculative boom in food commodity prices filters through to the checkout.”

New Zealand Institute of Economic Research chief economist Shamubeel Eaqub predicts food price inflation to hit 10 per cent by the end of the year, which will wipe out National’s meager tax cuts for low and middle income earners.

The Tax Justice campaign has now collected over 20,000 signatures since the petition was launched a few months ago. Mr Gunson says this is only the beginning. “We’re buoyed by what we’ve achieved over the last few days and looking forward to working with other organisations who support this campaign.”

“We thank Maori Party MP Rahui Katene for putting forward her private members bill to remove GST from healthy food, which both Labour and Green MPs supported,” says Gunson.

“And we welcome Labour’s new GST policy of removing GST from fresh fruit and vegetables. This is a step in the right direction,” says Gunson.

“That one of the parties of government is breaking with its previous defence of New Zealand’s GST regime as “untouchable” is hugely significant. It’s a boost to our arguments and recognition of the groundswell of public opinion against GST on food.”

For comment, contact

Vaughan Gunson
Tax Justice campaign coordinator
021-0415 082
svpl@xtra.co.nz

or

Victor Billot
Tax Justice media spokesperson
021-482 219
victor@victorbillot.com

Tax Justice campaign hits the streets, unveils new cartoon

Tax Justice media release
1 October 2010

Tax Justice activists will be hitting the streets over the next few days collecting signatures for a parliamentary petition that calls for GST to be removed from food and a tax placed on financial speculation.

Tax Justice media spokesperson Victor Billot says “The level of interest in the campaign has sky rocketed in the last few days as people start to consider the impact of the GST hike on their already stretched weekly budgets.”

He says people are concerned and angry that income tax cuts are going to the already wealthy, while for most of us the tax cuts will be wiped out by the GST going up to 15% and the coming spike in food prices (see Tax Justice media release, 26 September, Tax cuts will be wiped out by food price bubble)

Members of the public can support the campaign by signing the petition and circulating it to friends, family and workmates. Copies of the petition can be downloaded from www.nogstonfood.org

“We’d like people to help us reach our target of 10,000 signatures in two days,” says Mr Billot. “If we can get that many signatures in such a short space of time, it’s because grassroots people are passionate about wanting changes to New Zealand’s current unfair tax system.”

The Facebook page for the campaign has grown rapidly over the last few days, increasing to nearly 4,000 supporters, with no sign of slowing down. See appendix below for a selection of comments made by supporters of the ‘No GST on Food’ Facebook page over the last 24 hours.

Mr Billot says Labour’s new policy to remove GST from fresh fruit and vegetables is a step in the right direction, but GST should be taken off all food. This would deliver a universal tax cut bigger than most people will be getting from the 1st October tax changes.

The Tax Justice petition is raising doable solutions to the current imbalances in the tax system.

Mr Billot says that the idea of a Financial Transactions Tax or "Robin Hood Tax" is becoming increasingly popular around the world.

“A small percentage tax on financial transactions which would easily pay for GST off food, thus allowing the tax burden to be shifted off ordinary people and on to large financial institutions.”

To coincide with our Double Day of signature collecting, 1-2 October, we’re unveiling our new Tax Justice cartoon. The cartoon will be used widely in publicity in the coming weeks and months. It is available to be reproduced in print and digital publications.

For more comment, contact

Victor Billot
Tax Justice media spokesperson
021-482 219

Vaughan Gunson
Tax Justice campaign coordinator
021-0415 082


APPENDIX

A selection of comments made in the last 24 hours on the ‘No GST on Food’ Facebook page:

- damn straight NO GST on food! we pay enough taxes and shit that goes to government...they go on about how nzealandrz eat too much bad food! well drop the pricing on the healthy food........on all food FULL STOP! this must change.

- totally immoral that a basic human need is taxed. can't believe kiwi's lay back and take it.

- I agree that the gst should be dropped from certain foods, or the children and the elderly will suffer. If Australia can do it why cant we?

- It’s all about robbing the poor to feed the rich!! .. gezz im sorry john key does your 6 figure salary not cover all your costs !!

-We pay tax on our income why pay more tax on everything else we shouldnt have to pay tax after they take it out of our wages thats enuff

-No GST on food is a good start even better abolish GST altogether. Let the rich pay a tax on money speculation. It wouldn't hurt them and will help the workers a lot.

-the bastard that invented GST should be shot

-Why is it that everything just keeps going up except wages.no wonder people are going over 2 auz 2 live.we need food, so I hope this no gst on food comes through 4 us all.

-I'm really worried about our food bill from tomorrow. It's bad enough already!

-What’s the saying, the poor get poorer and the rich get richer. They need to give and take in some areas. Think NO GST on food would be a good start.

-The Richer get Richer and the Poor get Poorer.....Where’s Robin Hood whenya need him lol Seriously I know that Tax has been around for a Long time but why not increase it on Luxury items and leave the everyday living costs alone

-they complain about obesity being a huge problem...maybe if food was cheaper to buy then fastfood then we wont have the problem...NOO NOO NOO to GST on food

- Unfortunately the with the tax changes and gst hikes the poorer will get poorer and the rich will get richer.

-I support no GST on food. We are told taking GST off of food items is too complicated. I say rubbish to that reasoning. Everything has a UPC code or label and computer software could do it quite easily. Other countries do it, so why is it so hard for New Zealand? Let's all stand together and say, "enough is enough".

-The fact we have GST on food is quite disgraceful. We in NZ need to rise up as a ground swell to have this tax removed. We cannot think of ourselves as a nation of people who care about each others' welfare while we make the most basic need more expensive than necessary. Come on people, get with the play and object.

Labour’s new GST policy step in right direction

Tax Justice media release
27 September 2010

“Labour is taking a step in the right direction if they're going to campaign for the removal of GST from fresh fruit and vegetables,” says Vaughan Gunson, Tax Justice campaign coordinator.

“The fact that Labour is re-thinking its GST policy, after previously rejecting any changes to GST prior to the 2008 General Election, is testimony to how strongly grassroots people feel about this issue,” says Gunson. “The weight of public opinion can't be ignored.”

“For most Kiwis it’s immoral that food should be made more expensive by a tax,” says Gunson. “Especially at a time when food prices are going through roof and people are really struggling.”

“So Labour’s announcement is welcomed, because it puts another dent in the sanctity of GST, which proponents of this regressive tax have tried so hard to maintain,” says Gunson.

“The Tax Justice campaign, launched in May this year, will continue to fight for the removal off GST from food,” says Gunson. “And to ensure enough government revenue for public services we’re advocating that financial speculation be taxed instead. This hugely damaging economic activity is currently untaxed, which is a gross injustice.”

The focus of the Tax Justice campaign is a petition calling on parliament to: 1) Remove GST from food; and 2) Tax financial speculation.

“Taking GST off food would deliver a bigger tax cut than most of us will be getting from the National government on 1st October,” says Gunson.

“Thanks to National’s GST increase, a family spending $200 a week on food after 1st October will be paying GST of $26.09,” says Gunson. “Take the GST off and you’ve got a substantial tax cut, which would offer some relief at the supermarket for many New Zealanders,” says Gunson.

To protest the GST increase, Tax Justice supporters will be collecting signatures around the country on Friday 1st October and Saturday 2nd October.

“We expect to get a very positive response,” says Gunson. “And we’d welcome Labour Party members giving us a hand.”

Over 12,000 signatures have been collected for the Tax Justice petition. Over 2,600 people like the ‘No GST on food’ Facebook page.

See also these recent media releases:


John Key's other New Zealand flag: "The Land of 15% GST" (23 September).

Tax cuts will be wiped out by food price bubble (26 September 2010).

For more information on the campaign go to www.nogstonfood.org

Tax cuts will be wiped out by food price bubble

Speculation by big banks, hedge funds and other financial parasites is forcing up food prices.

Tax Justice media release
26 September 2010

“There’s concern worldwide that another global food crisis is upon us,” says Vaughan Gunson, Tax Justice campaign coordinator. “The price of food is set to go through the roof, like it did in 2008.”

New Zealand Institute of Economic Research chief economist Shamubeel Eaqub predicts food price inflation in New Zealand to hit 10 per cent by the end of the year, which will wipe out National’s meager tax cuts for low and middle income earners. (See Rising prices to offset October tax cuts)

In response to the food crisis the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organisation held an emergency meeting last week in Rome. Olivier De Schutter, the UN’s special rapporteur on food, says the high food prices can only be explained by the emergence of a “speculative bubble”. (See UN warned of major new food crisis at emergency meeting in Rome)

“The statements coming from the UN about the food price bubble are of extreme concern,” says Gunson. “The UN is pointing the finger at the banks, hedge funds and other speculators who are behind the soaring food commodity prices.”

“The last time food prices were caught up in a bubble there were food riots around the world,” says Gunson. “And the number of people suffering from malnutrition globally spiked from 800 million to one billion.” (See The Food Crisis and Food Security: Towards a New World Food Order?)

“We felt the pain here in 2008, too. And we’re still coping with high food prices,” says Gunson.

“That’s because food prices at the supermarket haven’t fallen back to their pre-bubble levels. It’s the nature of the market for supermarket chains and other food producers and distributors to want to hold prices high to maximise profits.”

“New Zealanders need urgent relief from food stress,” says Gunson. “Removing GST from food, as the Tax Justice campaign is advocating, would be a good start.”

“And then we need to do our bit to stamp out speculation, on food and everything else,” says Gunson.

“These global greedies are manipulating the world economy for their own ends, while the rest of us suffer the fallout.”

“Making profits from an activity that impoverishes others – or worse – is a crime against humanity,” says Gunson.

As well as pushing for the removal of GST from food, the Tax Justice campaign is calling for financial speculation to be taxed. Speculators operating in the New Zealand economy currently pay no tax on their wheeling and dealing.

“Compare speculators paying zero tax to people having to pay tax on food and you see that there’s a core injustice at the heart of New Zealand’s tax system,” says Gunson.

“The National government and the opposition Labour Party are either ignorant of the problem, or they’re happy for this shocking injustice to continue.”

The Tax Justice campaign is in the early stages of founding a nationwide network of supporters and activists. “We’re building up for a determined campaign,” says Gunson, “that will force the politicians to listen.”

Since the Tax Justice campaign was launched a few months ago 12,000 people have signed a petition calling for GST to be removed from food and financial speculation to be taxed. “Our experience is that wherever the Tax Justice petition is taken it’s proven very popular,” says Gunson.

On 1-2 October, Tax Justice supporters are going to be out in force around the country collecting signatures to protest the National government increasing GST to 15%.

For more information on the campaign go to www.nogstonfood.org.

For comment, contact

Vaughan Gunson
Tax Justice campaign coordinator
021-0415 082
svpl@xtra.co.nz

Victor Billot
Tax Justice media spokesperson
021-482 219
victor@victorbillot.com

Campaign to remove GST from food continues

by Vaughan Gunson
Tax Justice campaign coordinator

By voting down Maori Party MP Rahui Katene’s bill to remove GST from healthy food (see below), National, ACT and United Future have shown themselves to be offside with grassroots sentiment. The majority of New Zealanders think it’s criminal that food, a necessity of life, is made more expensive by this hated tax.

The Tax Justice campaign is circulating a petition which calls on GST to be removed from food and for financial speculation to be taxed instead. 12,000 signatures have been collected since the campaign was launched in late May. And we’re just getting warmed up.

We’re planning to collect many more signatures so that out-of-touch politicians in parliament are forced to listen to the will of the people. That’s what democracy should be about.

On 1-2 October we’re planning a Double Day of nationwide signature collecting for the Tax Justice petition. With GST going up to 15% on 1 October we expect a tremendous response from people who are angry about the escalating cost of living.

It’s good news that the Maori Party wants to continue its opposition to GST on food. The more parties and grassroots organisations working together on this, the more chance we have of achieving success.

YOU CAN HELP

Take part in the nationwide Double Day of signature collecting for the Tax Justice petition on 1-2 October.

Contact Vaughan Gunson, the campaign coordinator, right now. Email svpl@xtra.co.nz or ph/txt 021-0415 082.

To download the Tax Justice petition click here.

House rejects bid to remove GST from healthy food

from Radio New Zealand News
9 September

The Maori Party’s attempt to have GST removed from healthy foods was defeated in Parliament on Wednesday night.

A member’s bill in the name of Rahui Katene was rejected by 64 votes to 56, being opposed by the National, ACT and United Future parties.

Ms Katene told Parliament GST hits lower-income earners disproportionately because they spend a higher proportion of their income on food.

She says food prices have risen more than 20% in the past three years but real incomes have risen only slightly.

The Labour Party supported the bill but says that if the Maori Party were serious about removing GST on healthy food, it would not have supported the Government’s Budget, which raised GST to 15%.

The National Party says defining what is healthy is too difficult.

Ms Katene and the other Maori Party MPs say the bill’s defeat is not the end of the issue.

Tax Justice campaign in Truth

The following article appeared in a recent edition of the weekly tabloid Truth:

On 1st October a long black cloud will descend on the lives of grassroots New Zealanders. GST will increase from 12.5% to 15%. Everything will be more expensive.

On the same day, the National government’s other tax changes will come into place, including cuts to income tax.

However, for low-to-middle income earners the small improvements to take-home pay will be mostly wiped out by the increased GST on food, clothing, electricity, rates, and other items that must be accounted for in weekly budgets. It’s the rich and wealthy corporates who’ll get by far the most from the tax cuts.

Prime minister John Key claims the tax changes will result in “a fairer tax system”. That won’t be the case.

It’s because we need to address imbalances in New Zealand’s tax system that the Tax Justice campaign was launched on 22 May. The focus of the campaign is a petition calling on parliament to:

1. Remove GST from food.
2. Tax financial speculation.

Taking GST off food would deliver a tax cut more substantial than what the majority of us are going to get from National’s tax changes.

And instead we’re saying tax the financial speculators, who currently pay no tax. Zilch.

Is it fair that we have to pay tax on one of life’s necessities, food, while something as destructive to the economy as financial speculation goes untaxed? I don’t think so Mr Key.

Introducing a Financial Transactions Tax (FTT) would be the best way to make financial speculators pay tax at the point where their profits are accumulated.

A small percentage tax on financial transactions would net huge sums from mostly overseas speculators, but also local ones. It would be like GST for the rich.

In the last two months we’ve collected over 5,000 signatures for the Tax Justice petition. As more people find out about the campaign we’re confident it’s going to get bigger and bigger. We want to see that black cloud lifted.

To join the Tax Justice campaign, email svpl(at)xtra.co.nz or ph/txt 021-0415 082. 
Or visit our webpage www.nogstonfood.org

New UNITY leaflet links tax justice & workers’ rights

Click on image to download UNITY leaflet #4

 

KICK UP A FUSS!

“We’ve got to kick up a fuss,” said a woman who had just signed the Tax Justice petition.
Kicking up a fuss is what the Tax Justice campaign is all about (see petition over the page.) It’s what we’ve got to do right now.

But our right to “kick up a fuss” is under threat from the government.

National plans to introduce a raft of new laws that will hugely weaken our rights at work. They include extending the 90 day “fi re at will” law to all workers and making it very diffi cult for unions to properly recruit and support members.

What the Nats want is for workers to be under the bosses’ thumb.

Unions are gearing up to fi ght the law changes. That’s good news.

With the Nats also feeling the heat for their GST hike and tax cuts for the rich, we have an opportunity to come at them from both sides.

Combine the campaign for Tax Justice with mass action to defend workers’ rights and you’ve got the ingredients for a popular fightback. That’s kickin’ up a fuss alright!

To support the Tax Justice campaign contact Vaughan Gunson, svpl(at)xtra.co.nz or 021-0415 082. Get your workmates to sign the petition.

New Socialist Restaurants Bring Venezuelans Good Food at Fair Prices

By Edward Ellis
from Correo del Orinoco International
via Venezuela Analysis

Providing the Venezuelan population with good food at fair prices is the principle goal behind the inauguration of seven new socialist arepa restaurants in the country, confirmed Commerce Minister Richard Canan last Saturday.

During a tour of a recently opened government run restaurant in the neighborhood La Rinconada in Caracas, Canan highlighted how these new facilities are breaking with older models of doing business in Venezuela.

“The creation of these socialist arepa restaurants allows us to demonstrate to capitalist businesses that it is possible to have a venue where food can be sold at a fair price and not as a commodity, as it is under capitalist concepts”.

Maritime Union urges workers to support the Tax Justice campaign

The following article appeared in the Winter 2010 issue of The Maritimes, magazine of the Maritime Union of New Zealand:

Get GST off food

The Maritime Union of New Zealand has endorsed a new campaign remove GST from food and tax financial speculation.

The Maritimes magazine is urging all workers to support the Tax Justice campaign.

Organizers say GST hits workers on low to middle incomes hard and that is why they want GST taken off food.

Maritime Union of New Zealand General Secretary Joe Fleetwood says the campaign is “an important cause for the working class to get behind.”

Mr Fleetwood says the Maritime Union is the first union to endorse the campaign and would be promoting it to the rest of the Union movement in New Zealand.

The petition kicked off with a national day of action on Saturday 22 May, with nearly 900 signatures collected at the seven petition stalls organised around the country.

Since that time hundreds more signatures have been collected.

The tax justice campaign was launched shortly after the budget was announced in May 2010.

Campaign spokesperson (and Maritimes’ magazine editor) Victor Billot says National’s game plan is to increase GST and give tax breaks to the rich, while attacking government spending on public services.

Mr Billot says rising food prices is hurting people suffering stagnant incomes and job losses.

“Removing GST from food would provide an immediate and lasting benefit.”

Mr Billot says that taking GST off food was affordable if the government was to tax financial speculation.

A modest financial transactions tax that targets large financial institutions is gaining support around the world following the global financial crisis.

He says the Robin Hood Tax‚ campaign in the UK, which is calling for a financial transactions tax to be implemented, is gaining mass support.

The tax justice campaign is a joint campaign by the Alliance Party and Socialist Worker.

More information on the campaign is at the website www.nogstonfood.org

How can you help?

Over the next few weeks and months what’s going to matter most is numbers of signatures, says campaign spokesperson Victor Billot.

“The more signatures we collect the more support we’ll attract from individuals and groups. And if we start to record really good numbers of signatures, we’ll be more likely to get local and national media attention, essential for growing the campaign.”

Everyone can help by collecting signatures from friends, family and workmates. Every little effort will count.
You can download copies of the tax petition from the respective websites of the Alliance Party and Socialist Worker.

Or if you want to be sent print copies of the petition directly, contact Victor Billot at email victor.billot@munz.org.nz or mobile/txt 021 482 219.

If you would like to help out at tax petition stalls in any centre where we have organisers, get in touch with us.

If we don’t have a local organiser in your centre, you can become the organiser. We can give you some advice and other assistance.

Contact campaign coordinator Vaughan Gunson email svpl@xtra.co.nz or ph/txt 021 0415 082.

Staunch, but relaxed, Tax Justice campaigner on K-Road

Pat O'Dea collecting signatures for the Tax Justice petition on Karangahape Rd, Auckland, on Saturday 24 July 2010.

The Tax Justice petition calls on parliament to: 1. Remove GST from food; and 2. Tax financial speculation. Over 5,000 signatures have been collected since the campaign launch on 22 May.

Fancy spending a relaxing time talking to people about a popular campaign and collecting signatures for the petition?

If so, contact Vaughan Gunson, Tax Justice campaign coordinator, email svpl@xtra.co.nz or ph/txt 021-0415 082.

Anything you can do in your city or region will greatly help build momentum for the campaign in its early stages.
 
1,600+ people like our 'No GST on Food' Facebook page. To promote the campaign on Facebook go to http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/No-GST-on-food/119541161411953?ref=ts

John Key government spins untruth about GST

Tax Justice media release
23 July 2010

Peter Dunne, Revenue Minister in the National-led government has said “it’s not New Zealand's policy to have a non-universal GST.”

“This is not true,” says Vaughan Gunson, Tax Justice campaign coordinator. “GST is not applied universally today. The major exemption is for financial services.”

Inland Revenue lists the following financial services as exempted from GST: dealings with money; certain dealings with securities; provision of credit and loans; provision of life insurance; provision of non-deliverable futures contracts and financial options; the payment and collection of interest, principal and dividends; and issuing securities such as stocks and shares.

“The main users of these financial services are rich investors, speculators, banks and other wealthy corporates,” says Gunson.

“Why is it okay for them to get off paying GST, when grassroots people struggling to make ends meet have to pay tax on food?” asks Gunson. “John Key needs to fess up to the people of New Zealand and admit that our tax system has a rotten core.”

National refuses support on GST food exemption bill

From Radio New Zealand
Updated at 6:10pm on 21 July 2010

National won't support a Maori Party member's bill to remove GST from healthy foods, saying it doesn't want the law changed.

Rahui Katene's bill would scrap GST from foods, including fruit and vegetables, breads and cereals, milk products and lean meats.

The bill is due to be debated by Parliament, but won't get past its first reading.

Prime Minister John Key says it is difficult to demarcate between different food groups and the loss of revenue - estimated by the Government at $360 million a year - would be high.

Mr Key says the GST system is simple and exempting some items would start a trend.
But Ms Katene says financial transactions are already excluded from GST.

She also says Australia's tax office has a computerised model for GST on food and beverages, which would made it an easy matter to manage.

Copyright © 2010 Radio New Zealand

“It’s New Zealand’s tax system that’s unhealthy” says Tax Justice campaign

Tax Justice media release
18 July 2010

The debate around Rahui Katene’s private members bill to remove GST from healthy food needs to be broadened. That’s the message from Tax Justice campaigners.

“We need to address the core injustices in New Zealand’s tax system,” says Vaughan Gunson, Tax Justice campaign coordinator. “Grassroots people are forced to stomach GST on food, while something as destructive to the economy as financial speculation goes untaxed,” says Gunson.

Stuff: Bill removing GST from healthy food drawn

from Stuff website

A Maori Party bill that would remove GST from healthy food could come up for debate in Parliament in the next few weeks.

MP Rahui Katene drafted the member's bill, which has been drawn from the ballot that is used to decide which ones reach the debating chamber. Two or three bills are usually drawn every second Wednesday Parliament sits.

It is likely to go on Parliament's agenda for a first reading debate when Parliament returns from recess next Tuesday.

The Government is expected to oppose the bill, which means it won't pass its first reading, but Ms Katene is gathering as much support as she can from other parties and hopes National will change its mind.

Revenue Minister Peter Dunne said today her proposal wasn't viable because if some items were exempted from GST there would be demands for others to be given the same treatment.

He said removing GST from the food specificed in the bill would mean the loss of millions of tax dollars which would have to be found somewhere else.

Ms Katene is appealing for the bill to be at least put through its first reading so it can go to a select committee for public submissions.

Her Goods and Services Tax (Exemption of Healthy Food) Amendment Bill says food prices have risen more than 20 percent in the last three years while real incomes have risen only very slightly.

"While all consumers will benefit from the removal of goods and services tax from healthy food, those on lower incomes spend a greater proportion of their income on food and will receive a significant benefit as a result," it says.

"Research conducted both in New Zealand and overseas shows that the lowering of the price of healthy food ... leads to a significant increase in purchases of healthy food."

The bill defines healthy food as fruit and vegetables, breads and cereals, milk and milk products excluding ice cream, cream products, condensed and flavoured milk, and lean meat, poultry, seafood ,eggs, nuts, seeds and legumes.

The land of 15% GST

John Key’s other New Zealand flag

by Vaughan Gunson
Tax Justice campaign coordinator
10 June 2010

On 1st October a long black cloud is going to descend on the lives of grassroots New Zealanders. GST will increase from 12.5% to 15%, making everything more expensive. The new rate puts New Zealand in the top bracket of countries with equivalent taxes on goods and services (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_added_tax).

On the same day, the National government’s other tax changes will come into place, including across-the-board lowering of income tax rates.

For low-to-middle income people the small improvements in take home pay resulting from the tax cuts will be mostly wiped out by the increase in GST on food, electricity, clothing, rates charges, and other items that must be accounted for in weekly budgets. As has been widely reported, it’s the rich and wealthy corporates who get the most out of the tax cuts.